China Drops Star Wars from Han Solo Title After Last Jedi Bombed

It's no secret that China hated The Last Jedi more than anyone, but they're trying to save Solo: A Star Wars Story from suffering the same fate. China will now call the movie Ranger Solo and they have completely taken Star Wars out of the title in an effort to get people to give the movie a chance. Star Wars has never had the same impact in China as it has in most places all over the world, mainly because the original movies were never shown in theaters. But since The Last Jedi tanked so bad, they're not taking any chances with the young Han Solo movie.

The Last Jedi bombed so bad in China that it was barely in theaters for 2 whole weeks. Chinese movie theaters yanked the movie from rotation after a spectacular drop in profits from its debut to the second weekend. Fingers were pointed, but it came down to a few specific reasons. First of all, the first movies to be shown in China on the big screen were The Force Awakens and Rogue One. China just doesn't have the love affair with the franchise because they didn't have it from the start. Additionally, some Chinese critics believe that the actors and actresses in The Last Jedi weren't pretty enough, which sounds funny, but it's true.

Which leads us to Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is set to open in May for the United States and shortly afterwards for China. The official title for the movie in China is reportedly Ranger Solo and they completely dropped the Star Wars from the original title. The hope being that people will go see the movie not knowing that it's a Star Wars movie and that's affiliated with The Last Jedi. The logic seems sound, but the movie is already more than likely doomed for the Chinese market anyway. It might even be doomed in the United States, but it's far too early to tell.

The only real piece of promotional material that has been seen for Solo: A Star Wars Story is the official poster. Aside from that, we still don't even know what Alden Ehrenreich looks like as young Han Solo. There have been a few blurry set leaks, but nothing official, save for some LEGO box artwork. Some believe that it's by design to let The Last Jedi have its full theatrical run while others think that there's something wrong. Whatever the case may be, there's a weird sort of hype surrounding the movie in the United States.

There we have it. China will reportedly call Solo: A Star Wars Story Ranger Solo to try and get some people in the theater to see it. It will be interesting to see if dropping Star Wars from the title will have any impact on the box office in China, but it is doubtful. It could end up doing better than The Last Jedi, but that's not really saying a whole lot. You can check out the new Chinese name for Solo: A Star Wars Story below, courtesy of Gavin Feng's Twitter account.

According to local media Mtime, Official Chinese title of Solo: A Star Wars Story is Ranger Solo(游侠索罗). And STAR WARS(星球大战) is abandoned in Solo’s local title after Star Wars: The Last Jedi flopped in China. pic.twitter.com/FsOTZcxENW